Synopsis: This is a serving and passing exercise that constantly forces players to recognize and adapt to changing scenarios. From both a motor learning and communication perspective, this is very valuable for their development.
Age/Skill Level: This is a drill for intermediate and higher levels.
Requirements: 5 players, balls, a full court
Execution: Set up the players such that there are passers in left back (5) and middle back (6) on one side of the court, a target on the same side, with two servers on the other side in 1 and 5. The server in 1 serves to the passers. After the pass (or missed serve), the two passers change positions (flip) so the one in 5 moves to 6 and vice versa. A second serve comes from the server in 5. After that ball the players slide across (switch) such that the passer in 5 moves to 6 and the one in 6 moves to 1. They receive a second serve from the first server, then flip again so 6 to moves to 1 and 1 goes to 6. They get another ball from the server in 5, then switch back to their starting position to being the cycle again.
![Flip-Switch volleyball drill](https://i0.wp.com/coachingvb.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Flip-Switch.jpg?resize=646%2C299&ssl=1)
The next serve should happen as soon as the two players have moved to their next position to keep things moving. Run the drill for 2 minutes, then rotate. P1 becomes P2. P2 moves to Target. Target goes to serve from 5. The server in 5 move to serve from 1, and the server 1 one becomes P1. Five rotations will have each player go through all of the positions. That works out to a bit over 10 minutes when factoring in time for rotating.
Variations:
- You can change the length of each rotation, or you could go for some kind of target number of good passes.
- You can place the servers however you like if you want to work on certain receiving angles.
- Instead of the passers making their changes after a missed serve, you could have the server re-serve. Or, if you have the two servers in the same zone, the other server can be the re-serve.
- If you have only 4 players, a coach could be the target.
- If you have 6 players, you could add a second target to which the main one has to set the ball (keeping in mind this would slow the drill down).
- You could potentially turn each rotation into a servers vs. passers game by scoring the serves and passes.
Additional Comments:
- This is a good drill for working on passers having to communicate and pass seams since they are different each ball.
- Servers are also faced with a constantly changing set of targets.
- You can run two groupings of this drill on the same court without much trouble. In fact, it would likely help with ball circulation.
- Note that if you are running timed rounds you should stop the clock if you want to provide player feedback during the drill.
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